A typical central west town serving a district which produces grain, dairy produce, beef cattle and fat lambs, honeys, wine grapes and fruit. It was birthed in a gold rush in 1861.

Where is it?: Forbes is 303 km west of Sydney and 33 km south west of Parkes, at the intersection of the Newell and Mid Western Highways on the Lachlan River.

Events: The Forbes Show is held in September, the Festival of Roses in November, the Jazz Festival in January and the Bush Traditions Folk Festival in August. The Forbes Hang-gliding Championships are held each January.

Things to see and do

The history of the town - from its meteoric rise from nothing to a boom town of 28,000 people in two years after gold was found here in 1861, to a ghost town when the gold ran out, then a thriving market town - is told in the Forbes & District Historical Museum. Another museum to check out is McFeeters Motor Museum. It has a collection of meticulously restored motor cars, including, vintage, veteran, classic and street rods.

Forbes has numerous historic buildings and important heritage places, many listed by the National Trust of Australia (NSW) and some which you will recognize from the hit film The Dish, which was filmed here. The Centenary of Federation Heritage Trail brochure, about Forbes' buildings, is available at the Forbes Railway Arts & Visitor Information Centre.

Being a goldrush town, Forbes attracted its fair share of opportunistic characters. Priot to embarking on his life of crime, Ben Hall was a law-abiding farmer who lived in the area and sold cattle to the miners at Lambing Flat (now Young).

But in early 1862 his life was turned upside down when his wife left him for another man, taking their son with her. Devastated by this turn of events, he lost all interest in running his property, and began associating with bushranger Frank Gardiner before leading his own bushranging gang. Hall was eventually shot dead by police in May 1865. He was buried in the local cemetery, where his grave is still tended.


NSW's most famous bushranger, Ben Hall, is buried in Forbes Cemetery after being shot dead by police in May 1865. Also buried in the cemetery are Rebecca Shield, the great grand-neice of navigator James Cook, and Catherine Ada Foster (Kate Kelly), the youngest sister of bushranger Ned Kelly.

After his capture, Kate would often attempt to visit Ned in prison, as well as raise money for his legal fees. She joined the Society for the Abolition of Capital Punishment, which campaigned for Ned's death sentence to be changed. Despite Kate pleading on her knees in front of the Governor, the Marquis of Normanby, Ned was hanged on 11 November 1880. Following Ned's hanging, Kate disappeared from Victoria. Some years later she was spotted performing as "Ada" in a Sydney "Wild West Show" run by Lance Skuthorpe, and then in Adelaide under the names Ada Hennessey and Kate Ambrose. She eventually ceased performing due to ill health. She worked briefly as a barmaid at Hill Scott's Hotel in southern Adelaide, before her waning health forced her to return home. She worked as a domestic servant in Wangaratta, and a housemaid in Lanceby, followed by a series of domestic service jobs around the area.